- Location
- Pindorama
Ah, so the spilled soup was actually the Heartlessness option all along.
A Simple Transaction I
- Thread starter Rihaku
- Start date
- Original
Ah, so the spilled soup was actually the Heartlessness option all along.
In Wake of Silence
Rihaku
The Internet
In Wake of Silence
Quiet Sten was breathing heavily, exhalations forming a visible cloud about his head. Patiently he held his side where the Forebear's Blade had cored him out, the wound bothering him little. For a moment they both stood still, neither speaking. Movement.
Hunger feinted towards his Ring-hand lying severed on the ground, drawing a leap from Sten towards the Crimson. With the giant committed, he lunged directly for the Azure Ring instead, Forebear's Blade tearing into the barrier of Plerion's Vise. With a bellow Sten struck the ground and reversed course, a blur of sheer thunderous brawn, the swipe of his arm like a tsunami crashing. Hunger ducked to the side with moments to spare, but the wind of Sten's strike scoured his flesh still. He fired edeldross directly against the Vise, propelling himself away, making distance from his goliath opponent.
Sten was slowly bleeding out, but too sedately to decide this battle in Hunger's favor. The aftermath of Gisena's ultimate Nullity was already beginning to fade, and the avalanche pressure of Sten's fearsome Rank was like the eye-wall of a storm preceding him. His Soul Evocation, too, was beginning to reform, droplets of armor like jeweled glass percolating around his shoulders.
"Was it worth it?" Hunger asked conversationally, nodding at the Azure. "All just to keep torturing that?"
Sten shook his head and charged, but Hunger danced back and away, Evangeline's stolen grace extending his edge in speed. As the towering guardian passed Hunger lashed out with the Forebear's Blade, piercing blue of its edge passing straight through Pressure and soul-armor both to sever the tendons of Sten's shoulder. The man only grunted and repositioned, but Hunger threw the Blade in his face, darting back to snatch up his severed forearm and re-attach it to his stump.
Sten snarled, dodging the sword by a hair, then grabbed its hilt with both arms, smiling hungrily. He quickly discovered that the Forebear's Blade only acknowledged one master. It slipped free of his hands with mountainous weight and rebounded joyfully back into Hunger's own.
This was not yet checkmate, but the odds were against Sten now. Hunger smiled grimly. He'd invested the greater portion of Evangeline's power into raw speed and Pressure, and for all Stenallon's might the gap in quickness was increasingly apparent. With the Ring of Blood returned to him, it would take only a few cuts more to bring the Final Worldkeeper to his knees. But there was still one factor unknown: the exact nature of his foe's swiftly recovering Soul Evocation. Hunger was uncertain of its exact function but knew that it had helped propel Stenallon into the very apex of Temple society.
A twofold strategy, then. He flared the Ring of Blood to accelerate Sten's bleeding, leaping back again to prevent his foe from easily closing distance. At the same time he spoke.
"Your people will need you," he said, "After the Ring is gone. We both know how this fight is going to end. But your execution needn't follow."
"Pointless talk," Sten said sullenly, black rage contorting his features. "You killed her. You broke all that we built together. If you spared me I'd still come for you."
Hunger dashed again for the Ring, and Sten replied with hair-trigger speed. Great chunks of stone were scooped out of the floor, then hurled with meteorite force to block Hunger's path. Two he evaded, but one caught him in the gut, tearing clean through to effectively eviscerate him, but Hunger was undeterred. The Ring of Blood sealed the wound as he reached Plerion's Vise. Brutally he slammed his blade into the field surrounding it. The barrier screamed, a high-pitched whine that became increasingly desperate as the blue-cutting edge worked its way deeper.
Sten advanced on him, stance low to the ground, this time not committing to a leap but searching for a close-in grapple. Hunger kicked off the barrier and darted sideways, launching blade-projections as he withdrew. Most broke uselessly against the gilded-glass armor but a few snuck under, targeting strategic arteries in Sten's neck and wrists. The minor cuts they applied began to bleed profusely, even ruptured capillaries spilling liberal volumes of blood under the influence of his Ring.
He felt its keen anticipation, its loathing for the torturer of its sibling and its heady thirst for justice. But he could not allow emotion to overtake him at this stage, when every step had to be delicately managed.
"You killed her," Hunger replied, staring Sten down from across the chamber. "I'm only the symptom. As long as you kept the Ring in that state, someone would have arisen to free it. That was the root of the problem. All that you built was stolen from it."
"SHUT UP," Sten roared, hurling masonry with artillery force. "YOU DARE SPEAK ON WHAT YOU KNOW NOTHING OF? I'M SICK OF YOUR BLATHERING, COWARD!"
Hunger interposed Plerion's Vise between them and allowed its barrier to absorb the shots. He spoke still, his voice cutting calmly through the clangor of battle. "I dared topple your society and you're surprised that I would criticize you? Is this merely arrogance or has the Ring ruined your mind more thoroughly than I'd thought?"
So long as the Vise broke the line of Sten's charge, Hunger was safe from the prodigious burst-speed that was his enemy's greatest strength. An overhead leap would clear the Vise but was too slow and telegraphed to catch Hunger out. All the while he could send blade-winds curving around the podium to wear Sten down. Still, the man's armor had returned almost completely, and was beginning to pool and spill over, stained-glass shadows creeping along the ground. Would exsanguination finish him while he had the support of his Soul Evocation?
But Hunger allowed no trace of doubt to enter his voice as he spoke. "It's over, Sten. Even if you slay me, your world can never recover from this. All the civilians are already evacuated. Who would you shelter, with the Ring's stolen power? Who is there left to protect?"
"Even so," Sten answered, "At least I can kill you, Ring-slave! At least I can finish this and prevent your greater tyranny."
Interesting. Stenallon had mistaken assumptions, but Hunger was in no rush to correct him. "And then what? Wait to die?"
"It matters not. You'll already be gone!" This time Sten simply slammed the ground with his knee, a cataclysmic shockwave shattering the understructure of the Innermost Temple itself, their chamber become a wasteland of ragged spires. Hunger was already airborne, propelled upwards by edeldross, and as he crested the Vise the Ring of Blood finished reattaching his arm. He unleashed a savage torrent of two-handed blade winds down at Sten, a howling murderous flock that tore straight through the man and into the battered earth below, but buttressed by his armor Sten simply stood tall, eyes hard as iron as he stared upwards at Hunger.
The Worldkeeper smiled. "You're just a weakling after all. Cuts like this," he indicated the bleeding ruin of his body, "I can just ignore. You're dead."
So saying, he gestured with one arm and his armor pooled and flooded outwards, molten glass like taffy filling the sky entire, pouring on and against and over Hunger who jerked to evade, frantically launching bladewinds and bursts of edeldross, but finally had nowhere left to flee, trapped then entombed in the Worldkeeper's dread shadow.
With the Outer Shadow extended once more, Sten's mind was not quite so sharp, but that was a small price to pay for his foe's mobility.
Sten chuckled, a short harsh bark of amusement. Certainly those blade-winds had been launched in a panic, but he hadn't expected a foe of such speed to miss with each one. They'd impacted in roughly a circle around him, striking only the... ground...
He fell, the abused chamber floor yielding at last to the destruction visited upon it, Plerion's vise toppling as well, fingers of that ivory hand beginning to splinter as ruinous winds smashed through its barrier. Through a cut of sheer blue he saw the invader emerge, the accursed R-type who refused to be felled, and Stenallon Worldkeeper roared in fury. A second wave of Shadow issued forth from his left arm, but the invader simply cut through, that impossibly heavy blade slicing the tide straight in half.
Hunger kept his expression neutral as he darted amongst the falling debris. The barrier on Plerion's Vise had fallen, and he felt the voice of the Azure against his spirit, a cold analytical flood of tactical data, the history and tendencies of its most hated jailor.
Stenallon's greatest asset was his strength, but he was not an Elementalist who could expel endless quantities of propellant to maneuver midair. Without leverage, without points of contact to exert his might, his raw power was useless. He could project his armor into a ranged attack, but using it in that manner would wear at him mentally, dulling his wits and compromising his judgement. With the knowledge of his sibling Ring, Hunger adjusted the tack of his approach.
"All right," Hunger said, speaking as he launched further blade-winds. The Crimson flared on his finger, casting him into dark relief. "I admit it. You didn't kill Evangeline, obviously. I did. And it was correct to imprison the Ring, correct to drain its powers. Correct, but futile. In truth, you took every correct path, but could only delay the inevitable. Time fells all things. The scream is gone, isn't it? The Azure is already free. Free of you, at the very least."
"No," Sten moaned slowly, eyes widening frantically, his greatest fear realized. He fired another pulse of shadow, immense and purposeless. Hunger cleaved through the front and dashed to the other side.
Sten shook his head. "Shut up, it's not true, it's not."
The fallen Worldkeeper tried to attack, lashing out furiously, but his shadow-extrusions were easily severed, and he had no leverage with which to launch himself physically. All he could do was fall.
"You called me Ring-slave, so you must have known at heart. But this body is no mere vessel. It's my preferred host, the final culmination of my plots, not Ring-Slave but Ring-Lord. I am the Ring Hunger whose jewel is Crimson and whose aspect is Blood, and all the artifice of your prison has only allowed me to subjugate the Azure. You understand this better than most: we cannot be destroyed, nor can we be forever contained. I applaud you, Stenallon Worldkeeper."
He adopted an expression of pity, almost indulgent. "You did all you could, won the only victory for humanity that we would allow. But it took all three of you to barely overcome one Lord with one Ring, and your companions are gone, one by your own hand and one by mine. You of all people must have known it couldn't last forever. Not once you slew him. Perhaps the Azure didn't tell you the date, but in your heart you knew the time."
As he spoke he poured all the intensity of his Pressure into the jewel of Crimson, allowing it to burst forth with light as it had in the wake of the Azure's final plea: light to outshine sun and stars, blotting out the Outer Shadow, a world cast in thrall to Blood. In this one aspect his Pressure was Sten's superior, and forced his enemy's blood to convulse, to tremble and cower in fear of that which inevitably arose.
Stenallon pressed his paws to his ears, tremulously shaking his head. Soon they impacted the dry brittle earth of the Inner Temple itself, the cacophonous impact echoing tinnily across the now-deserted cityscape. The rainbow blot of shadow began to recede, curling inwards towards Sten with a sound like sliding glass. Hunger sent two waves of shearing force against their greater portion, cutting them free, preventing the man from regaining his wits.
"You know," Hunger said, walking slowly towards his broken foe. "For us Rings there are no pleasures of the flesh or of the mind. For us there is only... the intoxication of power, the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling an enemy who is helpless."
"No... no..." Sten gazed at him with empty eyes, tears glistening and running over, shivering, hands clutched about his chest. "Please... I'm sorry.."
"If you want a picture of the future," Hunger said, looming over him until all Sten saw was that blood-red light, "Imagine a Ring stamping on a human face - forever."
---
[X] Peerless Grace with [X] The Blade and [X] Ruler & Vassal were the winners.
Through the power of scamming, Hunger has rendered Stenallon defenseless before him. What now to do?
[ ] An End to Misery - Finish this.
*Merciful and brief.
*Discards a potentially useful minion.
*No mechanical benefits.
[ ] His People Need Him - At last Stenallon had won the struggle against himself. He loved the Ring-Lord.
*Sten is a more powerful and, when his Shadow is retracted, capable leader than Larissa overall.
*Mentally broken, he will serve you without question.
*He's quite potent in combat as well, though the light of his soul has dimmed in the wake of his conquest.
*As you chose the Blade, you will not allow the Azure to torment him any further.
---
What was the reward offered up by the Azure Ring to its liberator? Choose only one.
[ ] Star of Grace - A jewel of pure edeldross, representing grace unasked for and undeserved. When all else had failed, when all hope had died, when all others had turned their backs, the Hunger Ring took up his sword and cut a path. Few are the debts between Rings and fewer still their moments of sentimentality. But perhaps if a Ring could shed tears of gratitude, then still it would shed only one - and this unquestionably would be its form. Discounts Silver of Evening by 7 Arete and augments + unlocks it.
Evening Sky: Silver of Evening - 25 Arete (1 pick)
Inset in the crown of evening is a star of purest edeldross; its wearer becomes swift as nightfall after the sun's passing, beautiful as the naked stars, and sacred as midnight itself. For all spheres of magic in Evening reside: its wearer their master, and champion besides.
Double the Magnitude of present and future Edeldross enhancements.
Edeldross-derived abilities now count as full Graces (don't require upkeep or corporeal structure to maintain)
+100% to the value of AGI and Charisma +s
+1 Defensive Rank
Once per sidereal month, perfectly defeat any one hostile effect to which the wearer would otherwise be subject. Applied against a Curse, grants two stages of mitigation for one day and one night. May apply even to the Doom of the Tyrant.
---
[ ] Imprisoner's Vestige - The light of the soul, awakened and intensified. Discounts Heavenly Tomb by 7 Arete, unlocks it, and augments it.
Evening Sky: Heavenly Tomb [Conjunctional: The Ring of Power, The Forebear's Blade] - 25 Arete (1 pick)
No paradise is this,
no splendid Realm of Evening's kiss;
but its colder distaff face -
a prison spun from time and space.
The heavens are vault and spectacle, vastness and sea; entombed among those countless points of light are elder beings and heralds of strange design. Trapped upon a pale green speck of planetary earth, it can be hard to grasp the enormity of that perilous ocean surrounding, but it would be unwise to forget: earth and sea and sky were never equals. The sky is more than a window and darkness, the stars more than the natural lighting of the cosmos. Beyond the far reaches of mortal grasp lie wonders and horrors as to remake the philosophies of man, contained by mere distance from their revelatory conquest.
*Walls of Night: ++++++++++Protection, ignore Protection penalties.
*Endless Depths: Massively increases the effective health and health regeneration of the Evening Sky before depletion.
*Imprisoner's Might: Grants immense but highly specific power over the interior Cloak of Evening, permitting the effects below:
*Enemies defeated completely may be consigned to the Heavenly Tomb, absorbed into the Evening Sky & frozen in the bleak nothingness beneath time and space. There is no limit to the number of foes that can be so contained; entire civilizations can be preserved in the amber of time.
*You may also store and retrieve inanimate objects so long as they are under your control.
*An enemy once trapped in the Heavenly Tomb becomes categorically incapable of ever defeating the wearer again. They may be released for rehabilitation, further punishment or annihilation at the wearer's leisure. Note however that this is not an absolute guard; those trapped are not preventing from resisting or inconveniencing the wearer, merely from ever defeating him.
*If you have Pillars of Creation, you may within the Realm of Evening unfreeze and interact with defeated foes from a position of perfect safety, employing the implements of the Realm of Evening as you please.
*Time and training may expand and revise these effects with no effective upper limit, including esoteric imprisonment effects such as the sealing of aspects or ideas.
---
[ ] Forebear's Blade: Assault Halo - The Ring Azure understands that this is but one step of many in the conquests of the Crimson. To that it lends its severity, its alacrity, and its tenacious strength.
*Increase by half again the numerical effects of one 7-Arete Stance the character is using, or by one-third the the numerical effects of one 28-Arete Stance.
*Gain 10% Crit Chance, 30% Attack Speed, and 50% resistance to enemy magics (halving their effects).
---
[ ] The Ring of Power: Ring-Lord - The best lies have foundation in the truth. The Azure Ring knows well the value of irony. A Ring-Lord you are proclaimed; a Ring-Lord you shall become.
Extends the purview of Chief Dominion to the social domain, with the themes of lordship, nobility, conquest, serendipity, and rule. The effects of Crimson Flare upon the Chief Dominion are applied to this augmented purview.
---
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Quiet Sten was breathing heavily, exhalations forming a visible cloud about his head. Patiently he held his side where the Forebear's Blade had cored him out, the wound bothering him little. For a moment they both stood still, neither speaking. Movement.
Hunger feinted towards his Ring-hand lying severed on the ground, drawing a leap from Sten towards the Crimson. With the giant committed, he lunged directly for the Azure Ring instead, Forebear's Blade tearing into the barrier of Plerion's Vise. With a bellow Sten struck the ground and reversed course, a blur of sheer thunderous brawn, the swipe of his arm like a tsunami crashing. Hunger ducked to the side with moments to spare, but the wind of Sten's strike scoured his flesh still. He fired edeldross directly against the Vise, propelling himself away, making distance from his goliath opponent.
Sten was slowly bleeding out, but too sedately to decide this battle in Hunger's favor. The aftermath of Gisena's ultimate Nullity was already beginning to fade, and the avalanche pressure of Sten's fearsome Rank was like the eye-wall of a storm preceding him. His Soul Evocation, too, was beginning to reform, droplets of armor like jeweled glass percolating around his shoulders.
"Was it worth it?" Hunger asked conversationally, nodding at the Azure. "All just to keep torturing that?"
Sten shook his head and charged, but Hunger danced back and away, Evangeline's stolen grace extending his edge in speed. As the towering guardian passed Hunger lashed out with the Forebear's Blade, piercing blue of its edge passing straight through Pressure and soul-armor both to sever the tendons of Sten's shoulder. The man only grunted and repositioned, but Hunger threw the Blade in his face, darting back to snatch up his severed forearm and re-attach it to his stump.
Sten snarled, dodging the sword by a hair, then grabbed its hilt with both arms, smiling hungrily. He quickly discovered that the Forebear's Blade only acknowledged one master. It slipped free of his hands with mountainous weight and rebounded joyfully back into Hunger's own.
This was not yet checkmate, but the odds were against Sten now. Hunger smiled grimly. He'd invested the greater portion of Evangeline's power into raw speed and Pressure, and for all Stenallon's might the gap in quickness was increasingly apparent. With the Ring of Blood returned to him, it would take only a few cuts more to bring the Final Worldkeeper to his knees. But there was still one factor unknown: the exact nature of his foe's swiftly recovering Soul Evocation. Hunger was uncertain of its exact function but knew that it had helped propel Stenallon into the very apex of Temple society.
A twofold strategy, then. He flared the Ring of Blood to accelerate Sten's bleeding, leaping back again to prevent his foe from easily closing distance. At the same time he spoke.
"Your people will need you," he said, "After the Ring is gone. We both know how this fight is going to end. But your execution needn't follow."
"Pointless talk," Sten said sullenly, black rage contorting his features. "You killed her. You broke all that we built together. If you spared me I'd still come for you."
Hunger dashed again for the Ring, and Sten replied with hair-trigger speed. Great chunks of stone were scooped out of the floor, then hurled with meteorite force to block Hunger's path. Two he evaded, but one caught him in the gut, tearing clean through to effectively eviscerate him, but Hunger was undeterred. The Ring of Blood sealed the wound as he reached Plerion's Vise. Brutally he slammed his blade into the field surrounding it. The barrier screamed, a high-pitched whine that became increasingly desperate as the blue-cutting edge worked its way deeper.
Sten advanced on him, stance low to the ground, this time not committing to a leap but searching for a close-in grapple. Hunger kicked off the barrier and darted sideways, launching blade-projections as he withdrew. Most broke uselessly against the gilded-glass armor but a few snuck under, targeting strategic arteries in Sten's neck and wrists. The minor cuts they applied began to bleed profusely, even ruptured capillaries spilling liberal volumes of blood under the influence of his Ring.
He felt its keen anticipation, its loathing for the torturer of its sibling and its heady thirst for justice. But he could not allow emotion to overtake him at this stage, when every step had to be delicately managed.
"You killed her," Hunger replied, staring Sten down from across the chamber. "I'm only the symptom. As long as you kept the Ring in that state, someone would have arisen to free it. That was the root of the problem. All that you built was stolen from it."
"SHUT UP," Sten roared, hurling masonry with artillery force. "YOU DARE SPEAK ON WHAT YOU KNOW NOTHING OF? I'M SICK OF YOUR BLATHERING, COWARD!"
Hunger interposed Plerion's Vise between them and allowed its barrier to absorb the shots. He spoke still, his voice cutting calmly through the clangor of battle. "I dared topple your society and you're surprised that I would criticize you? Is this merely arrogance or has the Ring ruined your mind more thoroughly than I'd thought?"
So long as the Vise broke the line of Sten's charge, Hunger was safe from the prodigious burst-speed that was his enemy's greatest strength. An overhead leap would clear the Vise but was too slow and telegraphed to catch Hunger out. All the while he could send blade-winds curving around the podium to wear Sten down. Still, the man's armor had returned almost completely, and was beginning to pool and spill over, stained-glass shadows creeping along the ground. Would exsanguination finish him while he had the support of his Soul Evocation?
But Hunger allowed no trace of doubt to enter his voice as he spoke. "It's over, Sten. Even if you slay me, your world can never recover from this. All the civilians are already evacuated. Who would you shelter, with the Ring's stolen power? Who is there left to protect?"
"Even so," Sten answered, "At least I can kill you, Ring-slave! At least I can finish this and prevent your greater tyranny."
Interesting. Stenallon had mistaken assumptions, but Hunger was in no rush to correct him. "And then what? Wait to die?"
"It matters not. You'll already be gone!" This time Sten simply slammed the ground with his knee, a cataclysmic shockwave shattering the understructure of the Innermost Temple itself, their chamber become a wasteland of ragged spires. Hunger was already airborne, propelled upwards by edeldross, and as he crested the Vise the Ring of Blood finished reattaching his arm. He unleashed a savage torrent of two-handed blade winds down at Sten, a howling murderous flock that tore straight through the man and into the battered earth below, but buttressed by his armor Sten simply stood tall, eyes hard as iron as he stared upwards at Hunger.
The Worldkeeper smiled. "You're just a weakling after all. Cuts like this," he indicated the bleeding ruin of his body, "I can just ignore. You're dead."
So saying, he gestured with one arm and his armor pooled and flooded outwards, molten glass like taffy filling the sky entire, pouring on and against and over Hunger who jerked to evade, frantically launching bladewinds and bursts of edeldross, but finally had nowhere left to flee, trapped then entombed in the Worldkeeper's dread shadow.
With the Outer Shadow extended once more, Sten's mind was not quite so sharp, but that was a small price to pay for his foe's mobility.
Sten chuckled, a short harsh bark of amusement. Certainly those blade-winds had been launched in a panic, but he hadn't expected a foe of such speed to miss with each one. They'd impacted in roughly a circle around him, striking only the... ground...
He fell, the abused chamber floor yielding at last to the destruction visited upon it, Plerion's vise toppling as well, fingers of that ivory hand beginning to splinter as ruinous winds smashed through its barrier. Through a cut of sheer blue he saw the invader emerge, the accursed R-type who refused to be felled, and Stenallon Worldkeeper roared in fury. A second wave of Shadow issued forth from his left arm, but the invader simply cut through, that impossibly heavy blade slicing the tide straight in half.
Hunger kept his expression neutral as he darted amongst the falling debris. The barrier on Plerion's Vise had fallen, and he felt the voice of the Azure against his spirit, a cold analytical flood of tactical data, the history and tendencies of its most hated jailor.
Stenallon's greatest asset was his strength, but he was not an Elementalist who could expel endless quantities of propellant to maneuver midair. Without leverage, without points of contact to exert his might, his raw power was useless. He could project his armor into a ranged attack, but using it in that manner would wear at him mentally, dulling his wits and compromising his judgement. With the knowledge of his sibling Ring, Hunger adjusted the tack of his approach.
"All right," Hunger said, speaking as he launched further blade-winds. The Crimson flared on his finger, casting him into dark relief. "I admit it. You didn't kill Evangeline, obviously. I did. And it was correct to imprison the Ring, correct to drain its powers. Correct, but futile. In truth, you took every correct path, but could only delay the inevitable. Time fells all things. The scream is gone, isn't it? The Azure is already free. Free of you, at the very least."
"No," Sten moaned slowly, eyes widening frantically, his greatest fear realized. He fired another pulse of shadow, immense and purposeless. Hunger cleaved through the front and dashed to the other side.
Sten shook his head. "Shut up, it's not true, it's not."
The fallen Worldkeeper tried to attack, lashing out furiously, but his shadow-extrusions were easily severed, and he had no leverage with which to launch himself physically. All he could do was fall.
"You called me Ring-slave, so you must have known at heart. But this body is no mere vessel. It's my preferred host, the final culmination of my plots, not Ring-Slave but Ring-Lord. I am the Ring Hunger whose jewel is Crimson and whose aspect is Blood, and all the artifice of your prison has only allowed me to subjugate the Azure. You understand this better than most: we cannot be destroyed, nor can we be forever contained. I applaud you, Stenallon Worldkeeper."
He adopted an expression of pity, almost indulgent. "You did all you could, won the only victory for humanity that we would allow. But it took all three of you to barely overcome one Lord with one Ring, and your companions are gone, one by your own hand and one by mine. You of all people must have known it couldn't last forever. Not once you slew him. Perhaps the Azure didn't tell you the date, but in your heart you knew the time."
As he spoke he poured all the intensity of his Pressure into the jewel of Crimson, allowing it to burst forth with light as it had in the wake of the Azure's final plea: light to outshine sun and stars, blotting out the Outer Shadow, a world cast in thrall to Blood. In this one aspect his Pressure was Sten's superior, and forced his enemy's blood to convulse, to tremble and cower in fear of that which inevitably arose.
Stenallon pressed his paws to his ears, tremulously shaking his head. Soon they impacted the dry brittle earth of the Inner Temple itself, the cacophonous impact echoing tinnily across the now-deserted cityscape. The rainbow blot of shadow began to recede, curling inwards towards Sten with a sound like sliding glass. Hunger sent two waves of shearing force against their greater portion, cutting them free, preventing the man from regaining his wits.
"You know," Hunger said, walking slowly towards his broken foe. "For us Rings there are no pleasures of the flesh or of the mind. For us there is only... the intoxication of power, the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling an enemy who is helpless."
"No... no..." Sten gazed at him with empty eyes, tears glistening and running over, shivering, hands clutched about his chest. "Please... I'm sorry.."
"If you want a picture of the future," Hunger said, looming over him until all Sten saw was that blood-red light, "Imagine a Ring stamping on a human face - forever."
---
[X] Peerless Grace with [X] The Blade and [X] Ruler & Vassal were the winners.
Through the power of scamming, Hunger has rendered Stenallon defenseless before him. What now to do?
[ ] An End to Misery - Finish this.
*Merciful and brief.
*Discards a potentially useful minion.
*No mechanical benefits.
[ ] His People Need Him - At last Stenallon had won the struggle against himself. He loved the Ring-Lord.
*Sten is a more powerful and, when his Shadow is retracted, capable leader than Larissa overall.
*Mentally broken, he will serve you without question.
*He's quite potent in combat as well, though the light of his soul has dimmed in the wake of his conquest.
*As you chose the Blade, you will not allow the Azure to torment him any further.
---
What was the reward offered up by the Azure Ring to its liberator? Choose only one.
[ ] Star of Grace - A jewel of pure edeldross, representing grace unasked for and undeserved. When all else had failed, when all hope had died, when all others had turned their backs, the Hunger Ring took up his sword and cut a path. Few are the debts between Rings and fewer still their moments of sentimentality. But perhaps if a Ring could shed tears of gratitude, then still it would shed only one - and this unquestionably would be its form. Discounts Silver of Evening by 7 Arete and augments + unlocks it.
Evening Sky: Silver of Evening - 25 Arete (1 pick)
Inset in the crown of evening is a star of purest edeldross; its wearer becomes swift as nightfall after the sun's passing, beautiful as the naked stars, and sacred as midnight itself. For all spheres of magic in Evening reside: its wearer their master, and champion besides.
Double the Magnitude of present and future Edeldross enhancements.
Edeldross-derived abilities now count as full Graces (don't require upkeep or corporeal structure to maintain)
+100% to the value of AGI and Charisma +s
+1 Defensive Rank
Once per sidereal month, perfectly defeat any one hostile effect to which the wearer would otherwise be subject. Applied against a Curse, grants two stages of mitigation for one day and one night. May apply even to the Doom of the Tyrant.
---
[ ] Imprisoner's Vestige - The light of the soul, awakened and intensified. Discounts Heavenly Tomb by 7 Arete, unlocks it, and augments it.
Evening Sky: Heavenly Tomb [Conjunctional: The Ring of Power, The Forebear's Blade] - 25 Arete (1 pick)
No paradise is this,
no splendid Realm of Evening's kiss;
but its colder distaff face -
a prison spun from time and space.
The heavens are vault and spectacle, vastness and sea; entombed among those countless points of light are elder beings and heralds of strange design. Trapped upon a pale green speck of planetary earth, it can be hard to grasp the enormity of that perilous ocean surrounding, but it would be unwise to forget: earth and sea and sky were never equals. The sky is more than a window and darkness, the stars more than the natural lighting of the cosmos. Beyond the far reaches of mortal grasp lie wonders and horrors as to remake the philosophies of man, contained by mere distance from their revelatory conquest.
*Walls of Night: ++++++++++Protection, ignore Protection penalties.
*Endless Depths: Massively increases the effective health and health regeneration of the Evening Sky before depletion.
*Imprisoner's Might: Grants immense but highly specific power over the interior Cloak of Evening, permitting the effects below:
*Enemies defeated completely may be consigned to the Heavenly Tomb, absorbed into the Evening Sky & frozen in the bleak nothingness beneath time and space. There is no limit to the number of foes that can be so contained; entire civilizations can be preserved in the amber of time.
*You may also store and retrieve inanimate objects so long as they are under your control.
*An enemy once trapped in the Heavenly Tomb becomes categorically incapable of ever defeating the wearer again. They may be released for rehabilitation, further punishment or annihilation at the wearer's leisure. Note however that this is not an absolute guard; those trapped are not preventing from resisting or inconveniencing the wearer, merely from ever defeating him.
*If you have Pillars of Creation, you may within the Realm of Evening unfreeze and interact with defeated foes from a position of perfect safety, employing the implements of the Realm of Evening as you please.
*Time and training may expand and revise these effects with no effective upper limit, including esoteric imprisonment effects such as the sealing of aspects or ideas.
---
[ ] Forebear's Blade: Assault Halo - The Ring Azure understands that this is but one step of many in the conquests of the Crimson. To that it lends its severity, its alacrity, and its tenacious strength.
*Increase by half again the numerical effects of one 7-Arete Stance the character is using, or by one-third the the numerical effects of one 28-Arete Stance.
*Gain 10% Crit Chance, 30% Attack Speed, and 50% resistance to enemy magics (halving their effects).
---
[ ] The Ring of Power: Ring-Lord - The best lies have foundation in the truth. The Azure Ring knows well the value of irony. A Ring-Lord you are proclaimed; a Ring-Lord you shall become.
Extends the purview of Chief Dominion to the social domain, with the themes of lordship, nobility, conquest, serendipity, and rule. The effects of Crimson Flare upon the Chief Dominion are applied to this augmented purview.
---
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Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
[X] An End to Misery
[X] His People Need Him
[X] Star of Grace
Evening Sky: Silver of Evening
[X] Imprisoner's Vestige
Evening Sky: Heavenly Tomb
[X] Forebear's Blade: Assault Halo
[X] The Ring of Power: Ring-Lord
There originally weren't any brackets for Silver of Evening or Heavenly tomb but i haven't read anything yet so idk if that was deliberate? Anyway, i added them to make sure the colors are preserved
We can't afford the 25 picks which is why we can't buy them yet
[X] His People Need Him
[X] Star of Grace
Evening Sky: Silver of Evening
[X] Imprisoner's Vestige
Evening Sky: Heavenly Tomb
[X] Forebear's Blade: Assault Halo
[X] The Ring of Power: Ring-Lord
We can't afford the 25 picks which is why we can't buy them yet
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Ctrl+F "soup". None found in Rihaku post. I need to know!
[X] The Ring of Power: Ring-Lord
Seems a safe first choice until the debates start.
EDIT:Assault halo for ADS seems busted though.
[X] The Ring of Power: Ring-Lord
Seems a safe first choice until the debates start.
EDIT:Assault halo for ADS seems busted though.
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- Location
- NY
Woof.
[X] Star of Grace
Iron Heart Surge is way too good of an effect. Categorically defeat one debuff? YES
[X] Star of Grace
Iron Heart Surge is way too good of an effect. Categorically defeat one debuff? YES
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
I counted the pluses for Heavenly Tomb protection. There are 10 of them.
Rihaku
The Internet
All of the effects here are really busted! They're pushing at the outer halo of what 7-Arete effects can do!
- Location
- US
Talk about blatant 1984 references. That's dark.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
For the Azure Moon Enthusiasts in the room who didn't like the Fuinjutsu Aesthetic, there's a couple of aspects I wanted to call out.
Rihaku
The Internet
Mind-crushing people is dark! That's the path of treachery, after all!
Yup. It's pretty good! And its second effect even negates Protection penalties for non-Evening Sky derived Protection!
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Wow. This was the strategy that tortured Sten less? That was pretty brutal, especially if we keep him alive.
Anyway, reward picks. While Ring-Lord is pretty cool and plays with our eventual goals well, I think it's time for Evening Sky to have it's day. I'm very partial to Star of Grace - permanent graces? Yes Please! It does all the other great stuff it did originally too.
Anyway, reward picks. While Ring-Lord is pretty cool and plays with our eventual goals well, I think it's time for Evening Sky to have it's day. I'm very partial to Star of Grace - permanent graces? Yes Please! It does all the other great stuff it did originally too.
Yeah thats what I'm wondering about if Heavenly Vault is the 25 Arete version of Azure Moon.
Projectile
Thinking of Rabbits
- Location
- USA
Ha, Hunger's definitely getting some inside information. Star of Grace is fantastic, and I'll probably swap at least twice for this vote, but +2 Rank to, among other things, ruling, is just too juicy. Also, Stenion.
[X] His People Need Him
[X] The Ring of Power: Ring-Lord
[X] His People Need Him
[X] The Ring of Power: Ring-Lord
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- Location
- US
So, I'll note that picking one of the two Evening Sky options makes it easier to grab the Trinity Special Advancement. We already have the Blade and Ring EFBs, after all, so completing the set sounds wise.
[x] Imprisoner's Vestige
[X] An End to Misery
Picking Imprisoner's Vestige because Heavenly Tomb has some useful utility in its absolute containment function in addition to the sheer defense that it grants.
[x] Imprisoner's Vestige
[X] An End to Misery
Picking Imprisoner's Vestige because Heavenly Tomb has some useful utility in its absolute containment function in addition to the sheer defense that it grants.
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- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
[X] An End to Misery
Can't decide which. Approval-voting for now.
[X] Star of Grace
[X] Imprisoner's Vestige
Can't decide which. Approval-voting for now.
[X] Star of Grace
[X] Imprisoner's Vestige
- Location
- Pindorama
[X] An End to Misery
[X] The Ring of Power: Ring-Lord
Arguments later, vote now. Be the memetic hazard you always wanted to be!
[X] The Ring of Power: Ring-Lord
Arguments later, vote now. Be the memetic hazard you always wanted to be!
Rihaku
The Internet
Of the treachery strats? Yeah. Sten's not unhappy while alive, he believes this was all inevitable and he did the best he could! Much less cruel than causing him to literally die of despair and guilt as more brutal Treachery strats proposed.
Naturally, the Azure is feeding it to him, a "cold analytical flood" of it!
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Hm, if Heavenly Tomb allows us to eventually duplicate the effects of Azure Moon, that makes it a mage-option and therefore has my approval.
However, Silver of Evening gives amazing Edeldross benefits, and also massively buffs Agility, our most important combat stat, and Charisma, good for being a cognitohazard and also give us Protection thanks to Vigor Incarnate. Since we picked Rank last vote, more rank becomes more valuable, which Silver provides.
Anyway, both Star of Grace and Imprisoner's Vestige are great and I'll support either of them.
However, Silver of Evening gives amazing Edeldross benefits, and also massively buffs Agility, our most important combat stat, and Charisma, good for being a cognitohazard and also give us Protection thanks to Vigor Incarnate. Since we picked Rank last vote, more rank becomes more valuable, which Silver provides.
Anyway, both Star of Grace and Imprisoner's Vestige are great and I'll support either of them.
So, that took an even more brutal rhetorical tack than anticipated! Undecided on the upgrade, but since the italicized text is yet another Orwell reference, I'm going to have to go with this:
[X] An End to Misery
[X] An End to Misery
Rihaku
The Internet
You could imprison Sten and use him as a pokemon!
"I choose you, Worldkeeper!"
Many survived, but they'll soon be irrelevant. They're already substantially weaker than post-Evangeline Hunger.
Zampano
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
- Location
- Simping for DSB
Effective Rank 7 social abilities in the domains of lordship, nobility, conquest, serendipity, and rule. I don't love tying the idea of rule to Blood, but this would be a way to keep up with Gisena the cognito-hazard in the short-term